AUSTRIANS SEEM TO CUT SUPPORT FOR WALDHEIM

By JAMES M. MARKHAM, Special to the New York Times

Published: May 17, 1987

VIENNA, May 16—
Chancellor Franz Vranitzky will make a symbolically important visit to Washington this week amid signs that political support for President Kurt Waldheim has eroded in Austria since the Justice Department listed Mr. Waldheim as being barred from entering the United States.

The Justice Department's action on April 27, which effectively bans Mr. Waldheim from traveling to the United States because of his presumed implication in Nazi war crimes in the Balkans, has had a powerful effect in Austria. Politicians and journalists say Mr. Waldheim's spreading unpopularity threatens to undermine the functioning of the country's new coalition Government. 'Nobody Likes a Loser'

A senior Vienna editor, whose newspaper originally backed Mr. Waldheim, summed up a mood developing in Austrian political circles. ''It's sliding toward how to get rid of him,'' the editor said. ''Nobody likes a loser, and Waldheim is looking like a loser.''

Unrest is growing in Chancellor Vranitzky's Socialist Party, which opposed Mr. Waldheim when he ran as the candidate of the People's Party a year ago but which was obliged to muffle its criticism of him after the two big parties formed a coalition in March.

In a parliamentary debate on the affair last week, Socialist deputies conspicuously avoided applauding the People's Party leader and Deputy Chancellor, Alois Mock, who characterized the Justice Department decision as ''an unfriendly act'' made under the pressure of ''selfish and intransigent interest groups'' in the United States. A Question of Priorities

Socialist deputies initially balked at a motion that backed the Government's defense of President Waldheim against ''unjustified accusations,'' and one backbencher, Josef Czap, said that sooner or later it would have to be decided whether Austria was more important than Mr. Waldheim.

In an interview, Mr. Vranitzky went out of his way to distance himself from Mr. Waldheim. The Chancellor said there was sharpening criticism of the President's handling of the issue and shook his head emphatically when asked whether Mr. Waldheim had lived up to his pledge to be an activist head of state who would inspire a moral renewal in Austria.

''I believe that he fulfills his functions,'' Mr. Vranitzky said, ''but beyond that, considering the unique situation he's in, he is extremely busy with the other matter.'' It was a delicate allusion to the international controversy that has engulfed and isolated Mr. Waldheim, 68 years old.

Asked whether the President ought to resign to spare Austria further embarrassment, Mr. Vranitzky said, ''That Waldheim comes to this decision - you must ask him.''

In a society that lends great importance to titles, it was noteworthy that the Chancellor never once referred to Mr. Waldheim as ''President.'' An Expression of Dismay

The Austrian Chancellor nonetheless expressed dismay at the American order banning Mr. Waldheim, saying he had hoped that foreign policy considerations and Austria's traditional pro-American orientation would have outweighed the Justice Department's deliberations and ''internal American aspects'' of the Waldheim case.

When the Justice Department took its action against Mr. Waldheim, placing his name on a list of those to be excluded from entry, it cited evidence that he had ''participated in activities amounting to persecution'' of Jews and others in Greece and Yugoslavia during World War II, when Mr. Waldheim was a lieutenant in the German Army.

Mr. Vranitzky, a 49-year-old former banker and basketball star, said he would be pleased if President Reagan would reconsider the decision when the two meet in Washington on Thursday, but he added that he did not think this was likely. The Chancellor is to arrive in New York on Tuesday evening for a three-day visit. Cordial Welcome Predicted

The isolation and political eclipse of Mr. Waldheim, whose presidential post is largely ceremonial, has enhanced Chancellor Vranitzky's position as Austria's chief representative abroad. The American Ambassador to Austria, Ronald S. Lauder, predicted that Mr. Vranitzky would be cordially welcomed in Washington.

''We want to show the Chancellor that this is directed against Kurt Waldheim and not against the Austrian people,'' Mr. Lauder said, referring to the decision to ban Mr. Waldheim from entering a country where he lived for decade when he was Secretary General of the United Nations.

On Friday, a high-level Justice Department delegation, which included Neil Sher, the head of the section that argued for putting Mr. Waldheim on the list of those to be excluded from entry, explained the decision to Austrian officials. The Americans reportedly stressed that Mr. Waldheim was in ''a position to know'' about war crimes in the Balkans.

But the American delegation brought no new historical documents that directly implicated the Austrian President in war crimes. According to a source close to the talks. this considerably irritated a senior Austrian official, Tomas Klestil, who nearly broke off the meeting in anger.